Pelosi favors use of 14th Amendment to avoid another debt-ceiling crisis

[Auburn85 434]

http://thehill.com/h...-ceiling-crisis

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday amplified her support for a constitutional solution to the debt-ceiling increase.

The California Democrat said that, given the opportunity if she were president, she would not hesitate to invoke the 14th Amendment in order to hike the debt ceiling without congressional support — a move the Obama administration has rejected outright.

"I've made my view very clear on that subject: I would do it in a second," Pelosi said Friday during her weekly press briefing in the Capitol. "But I'm not the president of the United States."

The country hit the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling on Monday. The Treasury Department has said it can take "extraordinary measures" to continue borrowing — and therefore paying its obligations — until roughly March, when Congress will have to step in to raise the cap.

Many leading Democrats have urged Obama to avoid a fight with congressional Republicans over the debt ceiling by invoking the 14th Amendment. It states that the “the validity of the public debt … shall not be questioned." Supporters of that strategy argue that the language empowers the president to raise the debt ceiling without congressional input.

Obama this week said he won't entertain any options but a clean debt-ceiling vote.

“While I will negotiate over many things," he said late Tuesday night, "I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed.”

Republicans are pushing back hard. They see the debt-ceiling increase as perhaps their greatest leverage point in forcing Obama to accept steep spending cuts amid the looming budget battles set to define the early stages of the 113th Congress.

“Now that the House and Senate have acted in a bipartisan way to prevent tax increases on 99 percent of the American people, Democrats now have the opportunity — and the responsibility — to join Republicans in a serious effort to reduce Washington’s out-of-control spending,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday. He made it clear that an increase in the debt ceiling must be accompanied by big spending cuts.

In the summer of 2011, the GOP won $2.1 trillion in spending reductions in exchange for a debt-ceiling increase of the same amount. The Republicans have warned that they will allow the country to default on its debts unless they get a similar package this year.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said this week that the temporary market turmoil "is a hell of a lot better than the path we're on."

"We absolutely have to have this fight over the debt limit," Toomey said Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.

The White House has already ruled out invoking the 14th Amendment.

"This administration does not believe that the 14th Amendment gives the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling — period," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Dec. 6.

[3rdgen 2]

So when she isn't in power she believes the legislative branch of government is irrelevant?

[AUMed 0]

No, she's suggesting that Congress shouldn't, Constitutionally, be able to hold the public debt and the solvency of our country hostage to their demands. The 14th Amendment would be a very, very interesting route to take and I am fully in favor of it.

[AURaptor 1,137]

No, she's suggesting that Congress shouldn't, Constitutionally, be able to hold the public debt and the solvency of our country hostage to their demands. The 14th Amendment would be a very, very interesting route to take and I am fully in favor of it.

Yeah, of course you are. But it would be a dangerous precedent.

"I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed.”

This clever little manta of Obama's makes for a great sound bite, but it really doesn't hold water. It's like saying that if a thief takes your credit card, and maxes it out, YOU have to pay for the bill. That's b.s. We have the power to rescind those bills, and not pay for some things we don't need.

This madness absolutely must stop. And stop now.

[homersapien 11,812]

No, she's suggesting that Congress shouldn't, Constitutionally, be able to hold the public debt and the solvency of our country hostage to their demands. The 14th Amendment would be a very, very interesting route to take and I am fully in favor of it.

Yeah, of course you are. But it would be a dangerous precedent.

Actually, letting Congress to arbitrarily renege on the full faith and credit of the United States is the dangerous precedent.

"I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they’ve already racked up through the laws that they passed.”

This clever little manta of Obama's makes for a great sound bite, but it really doesn't hold water. It's like saying that if a thief takes your credit card, and maxes it out, YOU have to pay for the bill. That's b.s. We have the power to rescind those bills, and not pay for some things we don't need.

Not exactly. First, describing a democratically-elected government as "thief" is clearly seditious.

Secondly, like it or not, we don't have the power to "rescind" those bills, or at least if we do, we will pretty much cease to operate as a viable country.

This madness absolutely must stop. And stop now.

[AURaptor 1,137]

Hell yes we have the power to rescind those bills. Don't be absurd. And if calling Congress a group of thieves is seditious,then TRY to throw me in jail. Being 'democratically elected' doesn't in the last bit absolve them of their crimes.. They took a vow to uphold the constitution, from all enemies, foreign and domestic. They ARE the enemies to the constitution, and this nation,

[Bottomfeeder 244]

Hell yes we have the power to rescind those bills. Don't be absurd. And if calling Congress a group of thieves is seditious,then TRY to throw me in jail.

They are all thieves. And, to link the American people with government debt is ludicrous. The only debt the American citizen is responsible for is their own private debt.

[leglessdan 1,934]

Hell yes we have the power to rescind those bills. Don't be absurd. And if calling Congress a group of thieves is seditious,then TRY to throw me in jail.

They are all thieves. And, to link the American people with government debt is ludicrous. The only debt the American citizen is responsible for is their own private debt.

+1

[Tigermike 3,426]

Hell yes we have the power to rescind those bills. Don't be absurd. And if calling Congress a group of thieves is seditious,then TRY to throw me in jail.

They are all thieves. And, to link the American people with government debt is ludicrous. The only debt the American citizen is responsible for is their own private debt.

Well there are a lot of American citizens feeding at the federal buffet and those citizens vote for the politicians who keep the freebies coming.

[homersapien 11,812]

You guys remind me of that scene in Blazing Saddles in which the new sheriff (Cleavon Little) places a gun to his own head and holds himself hostage.

[AURaptor 1,137]

You guys remind me of that scene in Blazing Saddles in which the new sheriff (Cleavon Little) places a gun to his own head and holds himself hostage.

Probably because you're blind to the realities of the world.

[homersapien 11,812]

You guys remind me of that scene in Blazing Saddles in which the new sheriff (Cleavon Little) places a gun to his own head and holds himself hostage.

Probably because you're blind to the realities of the world.

I'll put my reality up against anyone's reality.

[Tigermike 3,426]

You guys remind me of that scene in Blazing Saddles in which the new sheriff (Cleavon Little) places a gun to his own head and holds himself hostage.

Probably because you're blind to the realities of the world.

I'll put my reality up against anyone's reality.

With Pelosi you might come out on top.

[autigeremt 6,970]

You guys remind me of that scene in Blazing Saddles in which the new sheriff (Cleavon Little) places a gun to his own head and holds himself hostage.

Probably because you're blind to the realities of the world.

I'll put my reality up against anyone's reality.

Of course you would. You believe in the America that isn't the least bit American.

[homersapien 11,812]

You guys remind me of that scene in Blazing Saddles in which the new sheriff (Cleavon Little) places a gun to his own head and holds himself hostage.

Probably because you're blind to the realities of the world.

I'll put my reality up against anyone's reality.

Of course you would. You believe in the America that isn't the least bit American.

I believe in a paradox?